Legado's Next Chapter: Thriving Futures Everywhere & New Leadership
For the past 12 years, Legado has worked alongside communities across three continents to answer a simple question:
How can communities define their own futures and ensure those futures become reality?
Together with communities, partners, governments, and local organizations in Indonesia, Kenya, Peru, and Mozambique, that question became Thriving Futures, a practical methodology communities use to define their own priorities and turn them into lasting, institutionally-backed action.
At its heart is legacy: what communities want to carry forward, strengthen, and create for future generations, both for their people and their place.
Thriving Futures has always taken a 360° view of life—recognizing that health, livelihoods, culture, education, governance, and the environment are deeply connected. We call this lens 360° Thriving: a way of seeing and shaping the full picture, rather than treating community priorities in isolation.
Across the work to date, 90% of community priorities identified through Thriving Futures have been taken up by local governments or institutions, and 97% have secured follow-on funding.
Photo Credit: TTWCA
Now, we’re preparing Thriving Futures for its next chapter: Thriving Futures Everywhere.
The goal is simple: make the methodology available so organizations around the world can use and adapt it independently, allowing Thriving Futures Everywhere to grow far beyond the number of organizations Legado could ever partner with directly.
This moment also marks a planned leadership succession at Legado, reflecting a next chapter for both Thriving Futures Everywhere and the organization behind it.
Thriving Futures Everywhere
Thriving Futures Everywhere responds to both realities: growing demand for the methodology and a deeper need for practical approaches that communities and local organizations can adapt and use independently.
Beginning in 2029, Thriving Futures Everywhere will be available for community leaders, local organizations, governments, and partners around the world to access, use, and adapt to their own contexts.
By making Thriving Futures available for independent use and adaption, we hope more communities—and those who support them—can benefit from 12 years of learning while adapting the methodology to their own lived realities and needs.
We’re sharing this news now because the road to 2029 will take time. Over the next two years, we’ll turn more than a decade of practice and learning into tools that can stand on their own, test and strengthen them with partners, and learn what support will be most useful as more organizations use the Thriving Futures Everywhere methodology independently.
As Thriving Futures Everywhere grows, Legado’s role will evolve from creator to steward, helping maintain the methodology, support its continued evolution, and connect learning across the organizations using it.
Want to follow the development of Thriving Futures Everywhere or explore how your organization might use it?
Roshni Lodhia/Legado
A Leadership Transition Years in the Making
As Thriving Futures Everywhere begins its first chapter, Legado is preparing for an important next chapter of its own.
Following a multi-year succession process initiated by Founder Majka Burhardt and led by Legado's Board of Directors, Liz Corbishley will become Legado's next Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2027.
Founder and CEO Majka Burhardt will transition into the newly established role of Founder, continuing to support Legado as a strategic advisor, ambassador, fundraiser, and thought partner while intentionally creating space for Liz and the leadership team to lead the organization forward.
For Majka, these milestones reflect two defining commitments of her leadership: building an organization that could thrive beyond its founder and positioning Thriving Futures to become openly accessible far beyond Legado itself.
"Over the past 12 years, I've had the extraordinary opportunity to work alongside communities, partners, colleagues, and supporters who have shaped Thriving Futures every bit as much as I have. Together, we've learned what it takes for communities to define and realize their own futures—and turn those priorities into lasting action.
Beginning the transition to make Thriving Futures openly accessible is incredibly meaningful because it reflects what this work has always been about: ensuring that communities everywhere, and those who walk alongside them, have access to practical approaches that help communities turn their priorities into lasting action.
At a time when the world needs bold ideas rooted in trust, partnership, and generosity, I believe this is the right moment to hold Thriving Futures with open hands—and to entrust Legado's next chapter to new leadership."
"I'm deeply grateful to everyone who has shaped this journey, and I couldn't be more confident in Liz’s leadership. Over two decades, she has built a reputation for helping mission-driven organizations translate bold vision into sustained impact through thoughtful strategy, strong partnerships, and exceptional teams. Having worked alongside her, I've also seen the wisdom, integrity, and collaborative leadership she brings every day. I can't imagine a better person to lead Legado's future."
"I am deeply grateful to Majka for the extraordinary foundation she has built and her investment in me. I am thrilled she will continue to help advance Legado’s important work in her new role as Founder, where together we will continue to leverage her experience, passion, and gifts. I am honored by the trust of the Board and the opportunity they have given me to step in as Legado’s next CEO . It is a role and opportunity I take on with great enthusiasm, humility, and commitment. I look forward to working alongside our team, partners, and communities as we build Legado and Thriving Futures' next chapters together.
"One of the Board's most important responsibilities has been ensuring the organization is positioned to thrive well beyond its founder. We are deeply grateful to Majka for the extraordinary vision, unwavering commitment, and remarkable tenacity she has brought to building Legado over the past 12 years. Through both opportunities and challenges, she has helped shape not only the organization but also the values-driven culture that defines it today.
We are thrilled to appoint Liz as CEO. She is a thoughtful, values-driven leader who understands both the heart of Legado's mission and the opportunities ahead. Liz brings the strategic vision, collaborative leadership, and thoughtful stewardship to our mission that this next chapter requires. With Liz as CEO and Majka continuing to serve as Founder, we believe Legado is exceptionally well positioned for the future."
Looking Ahead
Together, these milestones reflect years of intentional planning and a shared commitment to ensuring both Legado and Thriving Futures Everywhere continue to serve communities for years to come.
Thank you for being part of Legado's journey over the past 12 years. None of what we've built would have been possible without the communities, partners, supporters, and colleagues who have shaped this work alongside us. We look forward to continuing that journey together.
4 Core Principles
